1. Field of the Invention
The present invention belongs to a technical field of a connector wherein a terminal is inserted into a chamber of a housing and the terminal is fixed by a retainer.
2. Related Art
Connectors of this kind have been known, for example, Japanese Provisional Patent Hei 7-65924 has disclosed a connector wherein, as shown in FIG. 7A, terminals (not illustrated) are stored in chambers 82 that are provided in two rows, an upper row and a bottom row, in a housing proper 81, each of these terminals is fixed by a lance (not illustrated) on an internal wall of the chamber 82, retainers 83 are provided on the top face and the bottom face of the housing proper 81, each of these retainers 83 is provided to be integral with the housing proper 81 by means of band-shaped hinges 84, and the terminals are secondarily fixed by these retainers 83. Each of these retainers 83 is tentatively fixed onto the housing proper 81 by engaging slits 85 that are provided in the left and right side ends of the retainer 83 with protrusions for tentative fixing 86 that are protrusively provided on the left and right side faces of the housing proper 81. Then the retainer 83 is fixed in a fixing position by sliding the retainer 83 forward from the position of tentative fixing and engaging the slits 85 with fixing protrusions 87 that are protrusively provided on both the left and right side faces of the housing proper 81. On the back of each retainer 83, protrusions corresponding to the respective chambers 82 of the upper or lower row are provided, and when the retainer 83 is mounted in the fixing position, each of the above-mentioned protrusions penetrates through an opening 88 that is formed in the top face of the interior of a chamber 82, protrudes into the chamber 82 and engages with a top portion of the terminal that is fixed by the lance to secondarily fix the terminal.
In this connector, as each terminal is doubly fixed to the housing, the terminals are reliably prevented from coming off the housing. Moreover, if a terminal is not inserted to a regular position at which the terminal is fixed by the lance, the retainer 83 can not fit into the top portion of the terminal. This facilitates detection of incomplete installation of the terminal. Furthermore, as each retainer 83 is provided to be integral with the housing proper 81 by means of hinges 84, the retainers 83 can be prevented from coming off the housing proper 81, and the costs can be lowered through a decrease in the number of molds and a decrease in manhour for control. To assemble the housing, hinges 84 are forced to be bent into a U-shape and the retainer 83 is moved to the position of tentative fixing, then the retainer 83 is moved further into the fixing position. During this assembly, a flat retainer fitting jig 89 as shown in FIG. 7B is used. A U-shaped bottom of a notch 90 in the jig 89 is pressed against bent portions of the hinges 84 and the retainer 83 is pushed into the position. As a result, the hinges 84 undergo plastic deformation to loose their elastic restoring forces. This prevents the retainer 83 from coming off the housing proper 81 due to the repulsive forces of the hinges 84.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional connector, as the retainers 83 are provided on the top and the bottom of the housing proper 81, only two rows of the chambers 82, an upper row and a lower row, can be provided. Chambers 82 can not be arranged in multiple rows being three or more rows. Furthermore, as the assembly of the housing is made by forcefully bending the hinges 84 into a U-shape, moving the retainer 83 into the tentative fixing position and then moving the retainer 83 into the fixing position, it takes much time and workability is low. Moreover, as the retainer 83 must be pushed into position by means of the retainer fitting jig 89 to eliminate elastic restoring forces of the hinges 84, this also lowers workability.